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Monday, October 1, 2018

The
oft-repeated joke about modern art is – if you hang the art topsy-turvy, it
would be more appreciated as reflecting modern art ! The
interesting – ‘False Impression’, a mystery novel by English author Jeffrey
Archer, first published in February 2005 occurs mostly in UK and partly USA
& Romania, but traverses through
Continents. In the engrossing tale on a
masterpiece artwork, author’s knowledge of the artwork resonates quite
heavily. Quite a
new angle is that upon the occurrence of Sept.11, some people went missing,
presumed dead and some who were alive too, chose to make this an opportunity ! – it has its share
of killing starting with that of an English countess and more people by a hired
assassin who once was a great gymnast.
The good person is a Japanese Steel magnate who with passion for artwork
is willing to spend fortune and save
people. It is cleverly constructed
entanglement that keeps the readers guessed throughout.

There are many
painters of fame. Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a
Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work, notable for its
rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold colour. After years of painful
anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, the much acclaimed painter of
now, died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be
self-inflicted. In one evening of Dec
1988, Van Gogh severed his left ear (either wholly or in part; accounts differ)
with a razor, inducing a severe haemorrhage.
The self-portrait - Van Gogh
showing the bandage on his mutilated ear like a saint displaying the
stigmata; titled ‘bandaged work’ was
famed and Jeffrey Howard Archer’s novel
revolves around this artwork. How many of us would visit art galleries and if we chance
to visit, can we spot the fake one hanging out there ?

Dulwich Picture
Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. The Gallery in its current
form was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and
influential method of illumination, and was opened to the public in 1817. The
building is the oldest public art gallery in England but the Gallery only
recently became an independent charitable trust, established as such in
1994. Dulwich Picture Gallery houses
one of the country's finest collections of Old Masters, especially rich in
French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings and in British portraits from
Tudor times to the 19th century.

3 boys image : /www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/

Can You spot the fake? Art gallery replaces Old
Master with £70 version made in China to see if anyone can tell the difference reports Mail Online. When Dulwich picture gallery began discussing
the idea of introducing a fake painting to their collection, no-one could have
imagined it would have led to the quadrupling of visitor numbers.

But that is exactly
what happened when Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s 18th-century work ‘Young Woman’ was
replaced by a hand-painted replica, produced in China and ordered over the
internet for £70. It has hung in among
270 Old Master paintings since February 10 after a challenge was laid down to
the public to 'spot the fake'. Now, three months on, the gallery has revealed
that only 10 per cent of the 3,000 people who visited during the experiment
guessed correctly. But the gallery's chief curator, Xavier Bray, said that he
was impressed a number of people had managed to spot the imposter hidden among
the Rembrandts, Rubens and Murillos. He told MailOnline: 'It was a fascinating
experiment which gave us a chance to test art connoisseurs and we saw visitor
numbers quadruple because of it.

'It made people
look closely at a painting and discern what might be a replica and why. Ten per
cent got it right, which means Britain as a nation is still a nation of
connoisseurs, which is great. 'Unfortunately
others got it wrong. A number of visitors presumed the imposter was a female
portrait by Rubens, which had been restored 10 years ago, because it appeared
brighter. But that was interesting as it allowed us to find out more about the
way the public look at our paintings.'

The idea for the
exhibition, titled Made in China, came from American artist Doug Fishbone. Its
aim was to make people think about the way they look at, appreciate and value
artistic masterpieces. Mr Bray said Dulwich was keen to challenge the public to
'spot the fake' as a way of engaging with visitors and making the picture
gallery more interactive. Bray however
said that the gallery was not planning
any similar experiments. Instead, his attention has turned to whether the fake
will now become a work of art in its own right

'It was a risk, no
doubt about it,' he said. 'You wouldn't expect the National Gallery or the Tate
to display a replica on their walls but because we're an independent charity
and don't rely on public money it means we're relatively free to do what we
want. 'But that doesn't mean there couldn't have been repercussions. We are a
temple of art and as soon as people cross that threshold they expect everything
you are told on a label to be correct. 'Our aim was to get people to engage and
learn - that is what was really exciting. Can they spot a replica by comparing
it with the magical, beautiful originals we have?'

original left and replica right !

The way to
distinguish the real from the fake, Mr Bray said, was to look at the lack of
warmth in the background canvas of the imposter and the modern pigment of
acrylic paints. 'If you look closely, the brushwork on the fake is trying to be
expressive but it comes across as dead because it's an attempt to replicate
something else. There's no magic to it like there is with the real one.' The
original painting was put back in its frame recently and hung beside the
replica, allowing people to compare the differences between the two.

Jean-Honoré
Fragonard’s 18th-century work Young Woman is one of his famous Fantasy Figures,
a series of quickly executed studies intended to showcase the artist’s virtuoso
handling of oil paint. It was painted in 1769. The unidentified woman is
portrayed in Spanish dress, with a lace collar and slashed sleeves suggesting
the dramatic costume of the stage.